Writing Passage to Jarpara

 

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As I told my beta readers, this is a totally unnecessary story. I had left Taef and Lessie sailing for their bright future together, a more definite ending then I usually provide. So why then, does it even exist? There are several reasons.

The first is that I sort of always wanted to see Taef get the job he wanted, and I thought that there might be a story in a long trip across the Tropic Sea. A second reason is that I really like these people and the Tropic Sea, so I didn't need much of an excuse to revisit Taef, Lessie, Sella and Carz, and the Islands. Thus, there was always a motivation for one more story.

Next was opportunity. In 2022 I had written and submitted The Girl on the Kerb to a publisher during their un-agented open period, and had to wait at least 9 months to learn that they passed on it. And during that time I had, just for the experience, been querying agents while I waited on the publisher. So with that book hanging fire, it was time to start another one, even if The Girl on the Kerb looked to be my 2023 novel.

And then there was the fact that story ideas are very scarce on the ground for me these days, and quite frankly, that sort-of-story idea I had, was the only one I had. So when fall 2022 came around, and with it, the writing season, I decided to run with the one story idea I had. And that story idea was summed up in the (not serious) working title Zar Lada, Taef Lang, and the Island of the Slumbering God. I didn't care if it turned out to be a novel or a novella, I'd play that by ear.

The basic idea was that I'd have Taef, Lessie, along with Sella and her new husband, Carz sail east to Jarpara and during the voyage get talked into making a side trip to view the slumbering god, or some such mysterious thing, by a person they met aboard the ship. I wanted to see how I could write a married couple, once the romantic chase was over. I had hoped to be able to write some sort of Nick & Nora type of small talk between them. I also felt that I could use the story to bring back a some minor characters for their final bow as well. It was never going to be an epic quest. I've always been into small personal, character-focused stories, and this was going to be a very small scale, low stakes, character-focused story.

I started writing it on 14 Sept. 2022 and by 6 Nov., I had about 25K words written. I stopped work on it at that point because I had no idea what a slumbering god, or any Island mystery, could be. This has been a curse of mine recently, starting a story, with a vague middle part, and once into it, unable to come up with that middle part. 

On the 2 Jan. 2023 I once more started on the project, starting with a new beginning scene - the return to Lil Lon to introduce Lessie to Taef's parents, which was not in the plans at the end of The Prisoner of Cimlye, but seemed like a good idea. I had 38K words written before the project petered out again a few weeks later. During the following months, I returned to it in spurts - mostly editing what I had - so that by 6 June 2023 I had 44K words done. At this point the story clearly wasn't going to be a novella, and so I needed  to come ups at least 30K more words to make it a respectable novel. 30K words for which I didn't have the faintest idea where to find that slumbering god, or any other attraction could be.

I then spent the summer daydreaming up other potential stories, one a portal fantasy novella inspired by a girl I saw at a London bus stop during one of the virtual bus rides I was taking on YouTube. And a second, very mundane fantasy story, somewhat inspired by the stories I've been reading by D E Stevenson and Molly Clavering, which is to say stories that don't involve more than domestic trials and perhaps a bit of romance. I like to color outside the lines, and given how popular the epic & grimdark fantasies are, with their dragons and epic battles, I wanted to write something completely different. I spent all summer working a story out to the point were I probably could've written it, but...

But I had half a novel sitting unfinished, and I feared that I might find myself burned out on this summer story idea half way through writing it, so I decided to buckle down and finish Passage to Jarpara. To trust that I could find the slumbering god when I needed it and just start writing. So on 1 October, I once more started in on Passage to Jarpara, inserting another new chapter in what I'd already written, editing what I had written, and then writing forward. I came up with two ideas for side-trips, one minor, the other major.

The major idea I came up with for the slumbering god motif came to me while I lay awake one night. It was actually a return to an early idea I had for what Sella, Lessie and Taef would find on Redoubt Island in the first book of the series. I modified it somewhat, but the core idea for what they would've discovered in my first version of Redoubt Island will be found on Recluse Island in Passage to Jarpara. I thought it a fitting way to draw the series to a close. 

So it all worked out and  I finished the first draft of the story a few days before my self-imposed deadline of 1 Feb 2024, with a 105K novel. Now people often say that you should put the story aside for a few months before coming back to it for a second draft, but at my age, I can't take that chance. I spent February doing my second and third drafts and running it through Google Drive and Grammarly, before turning it over to my wife Sally in early March for her proofreading.

And being an old and impatient man, I decided to publish it on the first day of spring, 21 March 2024, no doubt putting my beta readers on the spot.

I will write more about the story itself after its release. Stay tuned!